“Our quarterbacks trust us. They know they can just throw it up and that we’re going to come down with it,” Brescacin said after his Black team beat the Cardinal 31-7 Saturday in the inaugural Huskie Bowl to end NIU’s spring football practice.

The Cardinal squad did the same, scoring its only touchdown when Angelo Sebastiano grabbed a twice-tipped ball in a crowd of three defenders and turned it into a 29-yard score to tie the game at 7 after the sixth of 12 possessions for each team.

“All of us, when the ball is in the air, it’s ours,” Sebastiano said. “We know even if it is one-on-one, it’s one-on-none.”

Maybe against Mid-American Conference foes. Not against their Huskie teammates.

A terrific secondary was one of the most improved parts of NIU’s Orange Bowl team last year, and it was the spring star, too. While the Black beat the Cardinal, both Black and Cardinal beat up on the green (the hands-off jerseys for the quarterbacks).

The game featured three interceptions before the second first down. All-American Jordan Lynch lost 16 yards on a tipped pass on the first play of the game. The four quarterbacks threw five interceptions, four by the Black squad, and the Cardinal recovered a fumbled short pass.

“They came with their big-boy pants on today,” Sebastiano said. “They are the ones who made the plays.”

Dechane Durante returned a Matt Williams interception 60 yards to the 10 to set up the Black team’s go-ahead touchdown, and cornerback Sean Evans had two interceptions, including one in the end zone.

“That’s a game-changer when you can cover the deep ball,” Evans said. “We were looking for a day like this all spring.

What better way to finish out than having our best day defensively the last day.”

Even Lynch (8-for-14 for 52 yards and one interception) did little against the Black defense.

“The Black corners, they made it hard for us the whole time,” Sebastiano said.

That’s a great thing to see in the pass-happy MAC.

“We have high expectations for our defensive backs, and they are on their way to meeting them,” coach Rod Carey said.

“Our defense wants to be as good as they can as fast as they can all the time.”

The Cardinal defense got help on its two turnovers. Da’Ron Brown appeared to be pushed in the back before a pass deflected off his hands and was intercepted. “I still should have made the play; we’re playmakers,” he said. And Brown’s “fumble” was clearly a dropped pass. “That one wasn’t even close,” Brown said.